Creative Teachings Of The Algebra Project Students example essay topic

My lah Diff ay EPS 202 Charlotte Frye-TA 12/16/02 The book Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights authored by Robert Moses and Charles E. Cobb Jr. depicts another perspective for designing academic curricula. This new perspective is a result of the Algebra Project, a program that gives African American students a creative and more efficient formula to learn math skills at higher levels. Robert Moses introduced the Algebra Project reform in the late 1980's, early 1990's to schools nationwide. This reform has been the cornerstone for contemporary Mathematics pedagogy for schools with predominantly black student populations, and is used by over 100 schools across the country. Moses tailored this program for blacks because Math literacy among this group is lacking, thus increasing the inequalities in schools where blacks are most frequently the lowest-ranked, as seen in tracked schools. Robert Moses was a civil rights activist primarily for black voting rights in Mississippi.

He continues his life of radical activism by affording blacks students with this program that will promote their academic achievements in the area of Math, something that has not been done before, to lessen the insufficiencies that black students experience in school. This paper hopes to show that the Algebra Project mirrors aspects of the Civil Rights Movement in various ways; both of these efforts advocate for the enfranchisement of Black people in a socially unjust nation and both have been successfully implemented because of the support of available resources and human cultivators. After showing how both agendas have used similar methods for the execution of their plans this paper will argue that by using these similar tools, the Algebra Project will achieve major accomplishments for black education as the Civil Rights Movement had done for all African Americans. 0 With the Civil Rights Movement and the Algebra Project having separate but similar agendas, there must be a discussion of each, to give further insight on what these similarities were in both programs.

In this essay, parities between these two topics will be presented and examined to give more meaning to the ways in which two programs, which are dissimilar in nature, can come to a consensus. This analysis will consist of identifying methods used for the initiation of both reforms, resources available in both, and how the achievements of each occurred. Furthermore, there will be a discussion of why the Algebra Project is significant in today's society in contrast to the importance of the Civil Rights Movement during the 1950's and 1960's. Also, This paper will give prospective goals of the program observed through interpretive experiences, such as high school and elementary school visits. The Civil Rights Movement that arguably began in the late 1950's was an unprecedented effort for blacks to achieve equal rights in the U.S. The Movement was headed by some of the World's finest and most talented motivators, such as the esteemed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It is important to note that alongside these leaders were many men and women who worked on a grass-roots level to cultivate new leadership among the "regular" people in various communities.

Ella Baker, one of the most effective cultivators of that era, organized a student activist group named the Student Non-violent Coordination Committee, in which Robert Moses was an active member and organizer. Ella Baker's famous words were, "strong people don't need strong leaders", and by these words she lived. She dedicated her life to enriching disadvantaged communities with her organizational and motivational talents to promote the community's involvement in the struggle against racial and class oppression. Bob Moses, like Ella Baker, was also a well-known cultivator in the Civil Rights Movement.

Mobilizing masses of people to register to vote, or to attempt to register to vote, was first on the agenda of the many Mississippi civil rights activists like Moses and Baker, where black political participation was the lowest and most necessary to end the blatant disenfranchisement of black sharecroppers. Small-scale leaders and organizers of the Civil Rights Movement motivated the black masses to stand up for their rights and to believe in the cause to obtain equal rights for all. Similar motivational elements were found in the case of the Algebra Project as well. Unlike the Civil Rights Movement, the Algebra Project held the task of motivating young people instead of adults. Moses refers to Ella Baker's organization skills in the SNCC when organizing the Algebra Project. In the Project students are promoted to actively participate in learning math lessons, the program designed creative projects that invites student and family participation.

Family involvement in student's academic lessons, not only motivated the students to achieve higher, but also builds family's support of the program. One of the projects that Moses uses is a class subway ride, where the students will record their observations of the area in their everyday language, and then translate that language into mathematical terms, forcing the student to understand how mathematical concepts apply to everyday activities. Making these projects fun and exciting also gives the students the extra push that they need to achieve. This practice of motivation, through designing attractive activities, is also an effective way to get students to become more interested in the classroom materials.

In contrast to the motivational efforts presented in the Civil Rights Movement, the practices of the Algebra Project are more effective because children are much easier to make an impression on than adults, whom have already established interests and beliefs. After understanding how the Civil Rights Movement mobilized masses of blacks into the Struggle, it is necessary to comprehend what these people would do to further the Movement. During this time there were many organizations that had been recently established like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCL C) and the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and also older groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). These organizations acted as conduits through which blacks would make their concerns and complaints heard.

Also these organizations would provide services to black communities, act in response to violence or obvious racial discrimination, and among other things mobilize more supporters for the Civil Rights Movement. These were the most significant resources of the Movement because if utilized properly individuals in these organizations could make profound changes in various political processes, such legislature. A major change is found in the Supreme Court case Brown vs. Education of 1954 that was one by the NAACP, this case made segregation in schools illegal. The resources previously mentioned all indeed worked for the betterment of the black population yet these organizations varied in the ways that they reached this goal.

The SNCC was a group of militant young students who held very radical beliefs and as a consequence took radical action. The SNCC held demonstrations, sit-ins, and organized boycotts among other leading efforts to strike against the racial terrorism that was occurring mostly in many parts of the South. The NAACP, on the other hand, is a more conservative organization that has used education as a tool to combat racism. The NAACP has made efforts to educate whites about the accomplishments of blacks and general black heritage, to deconstruct the racism ideologies that some whites possess. Furthermore, the NAACP, which was co-founded by W.E.B. DuBois, was not an organization that was primarily directed by blacks, but many whites held high positions in this organization. This fact contributes to the resources that the NAACP had available to it because of its racially mixed congregation, therefore the NAACP was able to take many large-scale issues to court and win, which seems unlikely for an all-black organization.

Another very crucial medium used in the Civil Rights era was the Black Church, although the Black Church had been established since 1787, it found a new purpose during the 1950's through the 1970's. The church gave these organizations, and the people in the community, a place to peacefully assemble without having to abide by the "white man" rules, as they would in a public place run by the city. The church was dependent on local banks and its congregation for financial support therefore the Black Church was a separate entity from other city or state-operated institutions. The church was very important because through coalition-building among multiple churches, where the congregations were substantial, ministers could reach a vast number of churchgoers with the messages of the Civil Rights Movement. Together the efforts of these organizations made the progression of the Movement possible.

Resources of the kind found in the Civil Rights Movement are also observed in the Algebra Project. Though the resources made available to the students were not national organizations, they did work for the enhancement of the student education. The most useful resource offered to the students of the Algebra Project is the Young People's Project, primarily a tutorial program. In this program, students, who have been exposed to the pedagogy of the Algebra Project, tutor other children on the math subject. This peer-leadership type program was designed to allow the student tutors to teach other students, using the techniques learned in the Algebra Project, to grasp mathematical concepts and to also persuade the students that math literacy is very crucial to students academic success and success in today's job market. With students conveying these messages to their peers, it is more likely that the message will be heard and understood than if it were an adult who taught the students these ideas.

Furthermore, the Young People's Project organizes educational workshops where students are the leaders of other children and adults, and the Project also hosts annual summer math camps. The Young People's Project is much like the organizations seen in the Civil Rights Movement because it mobilizes supporters as well, but in this case more students are recruited to become actively involved in learning math skills. Given the cultivators and the resources of the Civil Rights Movement, more leaders and activists were created to empower the Struggle. Further, with use of those tools and with more supporters there have been major accomplishments reached as a result.

Some of these major achievements focused on legislation include the 1957 Civil Rights Act that had been renewed and edited in 1960, 1964, 1968, and 1991, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the 1975, 1982, and 1992 Voting Rights Extension, and the 1993 Voter Registration Bill. Some of this legislation is fairly recent, but the most important Acts were created during the active times of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950's and 1960's. One of the most notable legislative reforms was the 1965 Voting Rights Act that gave blacks the right to vote in Section 2 of the Act, it also enforced the 14 and 15th amendment, and dis empowered U.S. federal district courts from denying citizens right to vote based on color. In the previous year of 1964 the Civil Rights Act also made major steps toward equality. In this legislature there appears seven titles that each outline important contributions to the progress of blacks in the U.S. The first Title presumes that people with a 6th grade education are literate; it forbids denial of right to vote because of minor mistake on the written literacy tests that were imposed upon blacks to filter their votes; it also, among other improvements, speeds up the procedures for making decisions in voting lawsuits. The other Titles are important as well they give blacks access to public areas; the titles also allows the Attorney General to file law suits after receiving complaints about public facilities; Title IV desegregates school to provide equal educational opportunities for everyone; another title eliminates racial discrimination in Federally Assisted Programs; the last of the titles give equal employment opportunities to persons regardless of race.

These significant feats were made through use of the tools, previously outlined, during the Civil Rights Movement. With use of the similar tools, presented in the Algebra Project, that program, too, can be successful in accomplishing its goals. With the creative teachings of the Algebra Project students have been enriched with more knowledge of the Mathematics subject. This is important because the new age of the world has become more industrial and will continue to be industrialized with more advances in math and science. In the past blacks have been underrepresented in the industrial sector as it relates to math and science, the subjects that blacks rarely conquer in school. This is seen in the low number of Ph. D.'s that blacks earn in math and science departments in comparison to the social sciences departments.

Therefore, giving young students the skills to complete algebraic equations and to understand math concepts, is much like giving these students a chance to make major changes in the world in respect to the industrial sector that are rarely made by blacks. Further reaching students in their premature stages of math education, equips them with skills that will allow them to move through high school and higher educational math courses with ease. Also, the students will have the abilities to master the ACT and SAT, exams that students must complete successfully to attend top colleges and universities. In addition, the focus that the Algebra Project has on black students gives schools with predominantly black student populations the chance to increase standardized tests scores and to better the school rankings.

The Algebra Project does not only extend to junior high school, where the program's teachings are primarily implemented, but it also extends to the Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). HBCUs have always been lower-ranked institutions in comparison to predominantly white colleges and universities because of the lack of resources that HBCUs have, such as computer labs, well-qualified faculty, and also students with high scholastic aptitudes. The Algebra Project will produce better thinkers and higher academic achievers among blacks, who may choose to attend HBCUs and raise the ranks of HBCUs, allowing for HBCUs to compete with mainstream colleges and universities. The Algebra Project works to break down racial barriers in education and in careers.

Motivating and offering resources are the tools that the Algebra Project and the Civil Rights Movement use to achieve goals. The efforts of the Algebra Movement have not gone unnoticed; the Project is responsible for raising the test scores of many students in the schools that have adopted this curriculum. Also, through observations of high schools and grammar schools, one can see how less traditional methods of teaching are being used more, but have been used all along. Class field trips to art or science museums can effectively teach students about these subjects more effectively because of the visual aides found in these institutions. Further, attending plays related to academic subjects, such as U.S. history have also been popular for schools today.

Even in college courses these hands-on approaches to learning are found, such as trips those astronomy courses take to planetariums. The concepts of using imaginative means to teach students are widely used; this proves the effectiveness of the Algebra Project in teaching black students how to learn Math concepts with a less traditional and more creative type of pedagogy..